How to Apply

Welcome to our instructions on how to apply to our program. Please take your time to read them carefully in order to make sure you submit a complete application that we can consider.

If you have already started your PhD project in Berlin, please head over to the association details.

You can only apply by using the application form related to this website. Please do not send any other type of application by post or by email as they will be rejected. You can download the application form and work on your saved application offline. Note: The application form must be completed in English only.

IMPORTANT: Please provide one single PDF-document with all required documents in an email with the subject ‘GRK 2046 application’. Incomplete forms or multiple email applications from a single applicant cannot be accepted!

Application form

The application form must be completed in English only. Please make sure that all your personal details including your email address and postal mail address are up to date as we will be using them to communicate with you throughout the whole application process!

You will find a section 8 called "References" in the application form. This is for you to provide us with the contact details of two referees that support your application. This is an important part of your application! We strongly advise you to pick your referees carefully and inform them about their role BEFORE you apply. Please make sure to send them the reference form in a timely manner. Please consider that your referees will only have time to submit their references until Sunday, 30 September!

You can choose your research group prefences according to the project descriptions. You may choose faculty members that offer one or more projects within this round of recruitment. The order in which you make your picks is usually interpreted as a tentative ranking but it does not limit your choice at a later stage by any means! You may even end up in a lab that you haven't originally picked as a preference, because once you are invited to Berlin you will have the opportunity to meet every faculty member that offers a project. Still, we advise you to choose carefully, because initially faculty members will also evaluate whether you might be a good match for their lab.

The field "Motivation and career plans" is one of the most critical parts of your application! You should clearly communicate why you are an ideal candidate for our Research Training Group. Importantly, you have to provide specific and meaningful insight into why you have made the choices regarding your research group preferences. Please comment also on your plans for your professional future. We would like to emphasize again that here it is very important to be specific, meaningful and concise!

When you finally submit your application we kindly ask you to provide a single PDF document containg your application form, CV, high school diploma, university certificates and transcripts, and other supporting documents IN THAT ORDER. This can be whatever is relevant to your application like GRE certificates, language tests, prizes. Please DO NOT send thesis abstracts, posters or other documents of minor importance! Please stick to the pdf format and the file size limit of 10 MB as this will enable us to process your application easily. Application documents that do not meet these criteria may be disregarded.

Incidentally, the application period is also a busy time for us. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that we are able to answer your questions promptly or help you solving problems immediately. We would also like to stress that because of the large number of applications we get, we cannot answer any requests on the status of your application! We will do our best to keep you up to date on the progress of the application process.